Wednesday, March 30, 2016

I had such a great time at RootsTech 2016. This was my first time attending in person and my first time attending as an Ambassador. What an amazing experience!

I left the conference with some fun RootsTech swag and I thought I would share photos of those items with you today.

One of the items I received is the very nice RootsTech bag in the middle of the photo below.

Here are some close-up views of other items.

In the photo below is my RootsTech lanyard. I collected a few buttons during the week. And of course, I collected some ribbons during the week too. In addition to the ribbons collected in the Expo Hall, Thomas MacEntee, founder of GeneaBloggers, shared some fun ones with me too. He had a lot of ribbons to choose from. The "GeneaBloggers," "i tweet," and "My Brain Hurts" ribbons were from him. Thank you Thomas!

Those pretty blue and gold beads were given to me by Thomas MacEntee because I'm a member of GeneaBloggers. The smaller ruby-colored beads were given to me by Eric Jelle, Founder of Genedocs. Thanks again Thomas! And thank you Eric!

See the little green selfie stick to the left of my lanyard? RootsTech gave each of the Ambassadors a selfie stick at the Media Dinner. What a fun gift! I didn't have a selfie stick before. Thanks RootsTech!

Close-up of the lanyard buttons.

My husband and I attended the MyHeritage RootsTech After-Party on Friday, February 6. What a fun evening! I'll share more about it in a future post. We had our pictures taken in their photo booth. Each attendee was given a blanket as a parting gift too. The photo is propped up against the blanket. Thank you MyHeritage!

Looking at these items from RootsTech 2016 reminded me of how much fun I had at the conference. I would love to attend next year too.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? LIVE RETURNS TO THE NEC WITH
ANITA RANI, SIR TONY ROBINSON, A WW2 SPITFIRE AND NEW EDUCATION ZONE

The world’s largest family history show Who Do
You Think You Are? Live will celebrate its 10th anniversary at the NEC in
Birmingham this April (7-9) with the help of celebrities and a full-size
replica Spitfire in partnership with Forces War Records.

Sponsored by Ancestry, Who Do You Think You Are?
Live offers workshops, speakers and a huge range of experts to create a
one-stop shop for the 13,000 family historians who will descend on the show
this year.

Ancestry are the show sponsors again for the 10th
year and as well as bringing their ground breaking AncestryDNA kits to the show
they will have Sir Tony Robinson joining them on Friday and Saturday to meet
visitors and discuss the new and
exciting developments in genealogy.

This year Who Do You Think You Are? Live is
celebrating its 10th anniversary with a very special addition – a replica
Spitfire, complete with its own ground crew and WW2 props in partnership with
Forces War Records. Visitors will be able to climb aboard and have their photo
taken inside the cockpit of this iconic aircraft.

Visitors will also have an opportunity to have
family treasures dated by Antiques Roadshow experts Eric Knowles and Marc
Allum.

There will be plenty of other experts on hand to help with dating
photographs and a dedicated military area offering advice to those researching
ancestors involved in conflict.

Anita Rani will be joining the show on the Saturday
and reliving her experience from the popular TV show Who Do You Think You Are? Visitors will have the opportunity to ask
Anita questions about her journey and also meet her for photos and autographs
after her talks. Anita has said “My experience of
WDYTYA? moved me to my core and from the reaction I had it impacted most people
who watched it too. I am very much looking forward to being able to discuss it
at the Live event.”

The event moved from Olympia in London to its
new Birmingham venue last year and Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine
publisher, Immediate Media Co., plans to build on its success with over 130 of
the biggest names in the business attending, including: Ancestry, Findmypast,
The National Archives, FamilySearch, the Federation of Family History
Societies and the Society of Genealogists.

The Education Zone in partnership with
Findmypast is another new feature at the 2016 show. There is an area dedicated
to beginners with 20 minute talks covering everything from Family history can
be FUN and starting from scratch to FREE online sources for the frugal
genealogist and Don’t throw that out! This area will also host the Battle of
the Somme roadshow and artefacts available to handle from the Royal Artillery
Museum.

Marie Davies, Show Director, commented: “We are delighted to be bringing Who Do
You Think You Are? Live back to the NEC for its second year. The 2016 event is
a very special one for us as we are celebrating the Live show’s 10th
anniversary following more than 100
fascinating episodes of the BBC TV series Who Do You Think You Are?”

Monday, March 28, 2016

One of our family's favorite recipes is Texas Tater Casserole. I originally found this recipe in the Betty Crocker Favorite Casseroles recipe booklet from September 1999, #154. A slight variation of the booklet's recipe can also be found online at the Betty Crocker website by clicking HERE.

This casserole is yummy and pretty easy to make.

Cook ground beef, chopped onion, bell pepper, and garlic in a skillet until beef is brown. The original recipe calls for chopped celery. I usually just leave that ingredient out. But when I made this casserole last night, I used chopped red bell pepper instead of the celery. By the way, I didn't measure the onions, bell pepper or garlic. But that's okay.

The Hallelujah Chorus is truly a magnificent and moving piece of music. I hope you enjoy watching this wonderful video.

I'm so thankful for our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful for the Atonement. Jesus Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. He was resurrected on that glorious third day following his death. He paid the price for our sins and He overcame physical death. Because of Jesus Christ's sacrifice and resurrection, each of us can be forgiven if we truly repent, and each of us will live again after death. Hallelujah!

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Yesterday J Paul Hawthorne, author of the GeneaSpy blog, shared a fun and interesting five generation birthplace pedigree chart on Facebook. He created the chart using Excel and shared the template on Facebook.

Many of my fellow genealogy bloggers created their own chart using the template Paul provided and also shared them on Facebook. My timeline has been filled with these fun and colorful charts. Of course, I had to join in on the fun, so I created my own chart and shared it on Facebook last night. I decided to share my chart here on my blog as well.

Here's a little explanation about my chart:

The chart begins with me. I was born in California. My dad was also born in California and my mom was born in Brazil.

J Paul Hawthorn gave me permission to share his Excel chart template. So, if you'd like to make your own five generation birthplace pedigree chart, download the template by clicking on the link below. Thanks Paul!

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Note: This is a repost from the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge. I changed the title and made a few edits to make the content accurate for today's date. Happy Birthday Dad! We really do miss you!This is part of the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" Challenge begun by Amy Johnson Crow, author of the blog No Story Too Small.Today is my dad's birthday. He would have turned 80 years old. He passed away almost seven years ago.

Jan Albert Iverson ~ 2 Years Old

My dad, Jan Albert Iverson, was born on March 23, 1936 to his parents, Ingrid Anna Gillberg and Arthur Harry Iverson. He was the second of four children born to Ingrid and Arthur. Jan had an older sister named Joan and two younger siblings. Joan passed away in 1993 from cancer and his younger sister, Anne, passed away in 2015.

This is a picture of my dad at his home in North Hollywood, California. I love that this picture of my dad shows the inside of the home that his father, Arthur, built with the help of others.

My dad spent the first ten years of his life in the Los Angeles area of California. When he was ten years old, his family moved to Portland, Oregon. This was after his mother, Ingrid, had remarried following the death of my dad's father, Arthur. Ingrid and her second husband, Wayne, had three children. One of Ingrid and Wayne's children, Pamela, passed away in 1972 at only 24 years of age. She had leukemia. Their other two children are still living, so again, I won't give their names here for privacy reasons.

My dad loved sports and played basketball, football, and track during his sophomore year of high school.

This is a picture of my dad when he was 15 years old.

My dad served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the East Central States Mission from May 1956 until May 1958. This is a picture of him taken in 1956 before his mission. He was 20 years old at the time this photo was taken. In his Mission Journal, he mentioned living and traveling in the following states: Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Mississippi, and Maryland.

In the summer of 1958, my dad was inducted into the United States Army. He went to Basic Training at Fort Ord, California from August 1958 to October 1958. This photo of my dad was taken in October of 1959.

After he completed Basic Training, my dad served at the Presidio in San Francisco, California. While he was there, he met his future wife (my mom). Her name is Elizabeth.

They became engaged in the spring of 1959. Then came news that my dad was being sent to Korea. In August of 1959 he left for Seoul, Korea and served overseas for eleven months. He and Elizabeth wrote letters to each other while they were apart. They even sent tapes to each other. My dad was a wonderful artist. He loved to draw and paint. We have a cartoon that he had drawn showing himself sitting at a desk listening to one of the tapes Elizabeth had sent to him. I will be sharing that cute cartoon in a future post.

After his return to the United States, he and Elizabeth were married. This is a photo of my dad and mom on their wedding day.

My dad was a wonderful husband and father. He loved his family. He also had a strong testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He served in many callings in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during his lifetime.

He worked hard to provide for his family. He worked as a computer programmer for many years.My dad had a love for genealogy and family history. He served as the Family History Center Director at our local Family History Center for about five years. My mom served as an Assistant Director alongside my dad.It was while my dad was serving as a Family History Director that he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He hadn't smoked during his life. The suspected cause of his cancer was acid reflux that he suffered from for years. He bravely and patiently endured the trials that went along with his cancer diagnosis. He had major surgery to remove the cancerous portion of his esophagus and then had chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

This is just a quick tutorial about how to add sources using the FamilySearch Tree App on a smartphone. I use an Android phone. I'm assuming the FamilySearch Tree App works the same way on an Apple phone too, but I don't know for sure.

If you haven't installed the FamilySearch Tree App yet, you can do so by going to the Google Play Store and searching for FamilySearch Tree. You can also just click HERE.

So, let's begin. Open the FamilySearch Tree App on your smartphone.

Here's the FamilySearch Tree App home screen.

Choose an ancestor from your pedigree chart.

You will then be taken to that ancestor's Details page.

See the little blue circle near Amanda's picture? That tells me there are record hints.

Click on the blue record hints icon. You will be taken to the list of record hints.

Click on the record hint you would like to review.

Scroll down and click on "Review."

The Record Review screen will appear.

If this is the correct record for your ancestor, click on the blue paper clips and then scroll down and click on Attach. It's also a good idea to include a reason why you are attaching this source in the box provided.

That's all there is to it. You've just attached a source record for your ancestor.

To return to the Detail page for your ancestor, click on the X next to Record Review at the top of the screen.

The FamilySearch Tree App makes it super easy to do family history at any time. How fun is that?!

Ken Krogue's keynote address was wonderful. I especially loved what he said about blogging. He shared the chart below that showed the results of a research study by a business magazine. The study asked "Which medias are most important?" The answer was blogging.

Here are some quotes by Ken Krogue about blogging that I really liked:

"Don't think the word blog, think the word newspaper or magazine. It's a digital magazine for you. Your voice can be heard around the world if you blog. Forbes.com is nothing but a big Wordpress blog." ~ Ken Krogue

"I would recommend that you get a blog. Tell your own story." ~ Ken Krogue

"So, start your own blog. It's got some horsepower." ~ Ken Krogue

What Ken Krogue said about blogging really resonated with me. I especially love that he advised us bloggers to think of our blog as a newspaper or magazine. Blogging is important and powerful. As he said, "Your voice can be heard around the world if you blog."